


However You Can Float

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Lay's a cutie and Lu Han doesn't want to admit it, Like-Don't Like Relationship, M/M, River AU, Smut, Tubing, Yes you read that right, tube sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:13:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4971241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two things that Luhan, river safety activist and founder of cleanup society Keep Your Cans, hates: cheap beer and drunk college tubers floating down the currents past his old family home. Even worse is that there's a man who best defines both. Combined into one gorgeous odious package come Lay.</p><p>So what if he's a generally nice guy. Because Luhan wants nothing to do with him, and will only touch him with a 10 foot pole - the better to keep Lay and his obnoxious purple inner tube from beaching up on Luhan's private property, friends, beer keg, floating boom boxes and all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The end of summer, the days turning cooler, the wind heavier, the water getting chillier as winter approaches - Luhan  _cannot wait_  for it.

Lots of young people love the summertime. Late mornings, and carefree afternoons, no school, and that glorious summer vacation. When Luhan was a bit younger, he enjoyed it more. Now however, at twenty-four, he's beyond that nonsense. Now he has a five-day-a-week job that actually gets busier in the summer, and numerous organizations he runs or helps to run on the weekends. He really doesn't have time every Saturday and Sunday to spend monitoring the banks of his family's riverfront property, once their summer cabin and now his main place of residence. And yet every weekend he's out there shooing away drunk college kids in their obnoxious inner tubes as they float downriver from that stupid party school up the way. 

Ten years ago this part of the river saw only canoers and the occasional kayakers - you know, those serious outdoor sporting people who put in the time and energy to look good and stay fit as they paddle up and down the currents and rightly respect private property. Now though it's just lazy-ass tubers who can't be bothered to do more than flip their feet - and maybe their fingers - when they find themselves aground in the one foot of water above the gravel bank on Luhan's side of the river. 

“It's called portage, people!” Luhan rails to a set of drunk college girls. “Get off your asses, get on your feet, drag your tubes  _back_  into deeper water and  _Float. Away_!” 

He's pretty sure they don't understand anything he says. He could be speaking a foreign language, Chinese for example, for all they care. At least these girls don't have one of those accursed floating boom boxes that blast ungodly music at all hours of the day and night, so it could be worse. They're just a regular nuisance. After a few unsuccessful attempts to move themselves, Luhan breaks down and helps them off, unsympathetically shoving one, two, three and finally four ladies off of his property with jerky movements. One of the girls shrieks shrilly as her tube starts to float away (with her in - it's not like he dumped her out without her stupid floatie), but then she drops her can of beer and rages madly, and there it goes floating away before Luhan can even do anything about it. More trash to pile up somewhere down the river. Just. Great. 

“Why do I even bother,” Luhan whines. 

One of the other girls tries to catch it, but her coordination isn't the best right now and she ends up half-in half-out of her tube and also nearly spills out of her bikini top. Luhan winces and turns away. If he has to see one more boob this day he's going to puke. After all, they're really not his thing.

Luhan much more prefers delicately defined abs on a flat chest kissed by the sun and strong muscular legs stretching through long, knee-length swim trunks and... Oh no, here comes the next round of tubers around the river bend, and Luhan already knows by the loud sounds of merriment (what a raucous) who these guys will be. How could he not know. They float this way nearly every weekend around the same time, and if Luhan was wise he'd take his older brother's advice and ignore them. There's no house rule that says Luhan  _has_  to man this stretch of river every weekend at nearly the same time - but then if he doesn't, the idiots will win... and Luhan is never going to let them win. 

He steels his expression, repositions his folding chair at the right angle, sits down and crosses a leg. His cap is on straight and his graphic tee is precise, his jean shorts are on just right and his sandal footwear makes him look manly - of this Luhan is sure. All he needs is the right smirk, a good swig from his water bottle and a  _do or die_  stare, and oh yeah, he's got this covered.

“Come on, dimples. Come at me,” he whispers haughtily.

He's been fighting this quartet of college boys for years -  _four_  years, to be exact. Ever since they turned up as freshman and were indoctrinated into the campus sport (“toobin”) and began their careers as the top pesterers of a lifetime. Luhan had started calling them all the beagles, because three of them were really loud and yipped obnoxiously, and they just never shut up! 

There was Baekhyun with his too-skinny body who was always singing, and not just one song at a time, but random lines from random songs in all different languages that he tied together to form one massive, unpleasant tune; Chanyeol with his laughing and stupid jokes, and he was the laziest of the lot and always lost something; then there was Jongdae and no one was worse than this kid, who always seemed so simple and idiotic, but had actually snuck downriver one night and planted beer cans in the gravel that spelled 'Fuk n Luv U 2!' Luhan was really never going to forget that one...

Forgive and forget? No, that shit's for amateurs.

What really gets on Luhan's nerves though is their leader. Lay, that's what they call him. And Luhan doesn't know if he’s really their leader, or if Lay just falls into that assigned role because he is the smartest of the bunch. Smart as in, weasel smart. He pretends to be sweet and cute and 'scolds' his friends when they bother Luhan, and then he laughs behind their backs and smirks at Luhan and drives him completely mad. Lay is a devil hiding in an angel's body - not that Luhan ever notices his beautiful, toned body - but he just knows he'll be the death of him some day. 

Not this day though. Today he is ready.

Chanyeol floats down first, back to the gravel bar where Luhan awaits. Right behind comes Baekhyun who gives a wild shout when he sees Luhan. Jongdae mimics him and Luhan smiles hard, gripping his teeth angrily. He doesn't move a muscle when Lay rounds off the quartet, and everything about him is odious, from the way his body reclines and butt sinks through the tube, how his knees stick up, and his feet dangle aimlessly above the surface of the water. He looks totally stoned. He probably is, but Luhan has no way to test that theory and it doesn't matter anyway because Luhan in no way cares about Lay and his stupid purple inner tube. The others only had yellow rentals each weekend, but was that good enough for Lay? Nooo, he just has to own his own damn tube. Professional bum. What right does he have to even look fit? All he does is float around and lay on his back propped up by air. The air does half the work, and gravity and the river flow do the rest, so it is completely not right how Lay's stomach can be tight and his pecks nicely defined (but not too much so)... and why on earth does he have to always wear that stupid blue and white striped cap? That cap is too sweet for someone like Lay. Luhan wants  ~~him~~.  _It_. He wants  _it!_  The cap.  _Not Lay_. He wants  _the cap!_

The foursome floats down with the current, inching their way closer and Luhan cringes at the sight of Jongdae's tube tied to another. The extra tube doesn't carry another body, but it does contain a floating Styrofoam beer cooler, half of which Luhan suspects will end up in the river before the day is out, if not the entire cooler itself. 

“Hey hey it's Luhan!” Baekhyun shouts. 

“Luhan!” Chanyeol cries lamely, throwing his hands up in the air.

“We're here to pay the toll tax,” says Jongdae. “Hey I got some trash. Won't you take it from me?” He holds up a small burlap bag, a few emptied cans already protruding from it.

Luhan crosses his arms against his chest and sneers at them. 

“What?” says Jongdae. “Isn't that what you do? River trash man? What's that organization you run?  _Keep Your Cans_? What, did you think I didn't see you last Floatfest out there with your snazzy green shirt passing out hot dogs in exchange for empty beer cans? Neat job, man. When can I get hired?”

“I'm not picking up your shit, Jongdae. You have hands. You can manage it,” says Luhan.

Chanyeol giggles. “But my hands are busy!”

“What?” Baekhyun laughs. “They're in the air, stupid.”

“Yeah, isn't this a stick-up? Luhan wants my cans! Or is it jugs? Wait I don't have any jugs.” The others snicker. 

Luhan rolls his eyes, and when he comes to, he finds himself face to face with Lay who smiles obnoxiously at him as he floats on by. “See you later, Luhan,” he says and waves an airy hand. There may be ten feet between them but Lay always seems to insinuate himself into Luhan's ten-foot bubble, and it gives him the creeps.

“In your dreams, Lay.”

The burlap trash bag goes flying over Luhan's head, and he rages when he sees Jongdae mimicking Lay's stupid little wave, the trash bag he was holding now on the dry gravel. Luhan can't even throw it back because damnit, that would be littering. 

_Jongdae: 1 - Luhan: 0._

“Little shit,” Luhan murmurs as the guys finally float on past. “I bet Lay told him to do it.” He waits until they're completely out of sight before standing up and retrieving the trash bag, glad at least that this time Chanyeol didn't end beached up like a whale in the shallow end. The skinny giant was a lot heavier than he looked at first glance, especially with all that deadweight, Luhan had discovered.

His cabin sits up on the hill overlooking the river, far enough that he can't hear every sound but close enough that the sight of tubers from his porch can still drive him nuts. Perks of living with riverfront property. At least the view is worth it sometimes.

Damnit, he really wants that blue and white cap. 

 

 

 

 

“So, Luhan. Did you murder anyone on the river this weekend, or didn't the cops find any bodies?” Jongin smirks as they work, unloading two large canoes from the back of Luhan's truck. One is a two-seater for him and Jongin, the second only a solo boat for Minseok who's now ten minutes late and really ought to be here to help already. 

Luhan's had a long day working at the canoe shop. Mondays may be slow days for rentals, but never for the paperwork Luhan is always a little behind on. He's been inside all day, and he just wants a break, preferably as he paddles down the river. 

“No, no bodies. Though I was tempted of course.”

“Who? Lay again?”

“Nearly,” Luhan sneers. “Really I want to kill his friends though. That Jongdae in particular.”

Jongin chuckles. “When are you ever going to chill out and not let that pack get to you, anyways?”

“Uhm, never.”

“But Lu, you need to have a little more fun in your life,” Jongin whines, irritably.

“I have fun.” He does, really, Luhan insists. It's just that Luhan's idea of fun varies radically from Jongin's and that's okay. Not everyone gets off terrorizing college kids when they can't even call for help because they wisely left their phones in their cars (or unwisely lost them in the river). “Why, what's your idea of fun anyway?”

Jongin does a little happy dance, which Luhan recognizes as Jongin looking crafty and sly. 

“What did you do?” Luhan pries, a smile coming to his lips unbidden. 

“Nothing.” Jongin is the picture of innocence, except of course Luhan knows he's not.

“Come on. Out with it.”

“Oh, just me and Kyungsoo went diving down at the lake.” 

“And?” Luhan kind of envies Jongin and Kyungsoo's scuba certification. Decked out like ninjas, they were a deadly hot pair in the water and had even done some overseas travel just to dive, and pick up chicks. Here though their idea of entertainment fed more into the territory 'cheap fun' and Luhan would definitely not trust them underwater. “Don't tell me you guys spent another weekend laying under the water watching the tubes float over your heads?”

The sick laughter Jongin returns with confirms it all. Luhan rolls his eyes.

“What? It's fun! It's not like anybody ever sees us down there... especially not the girls in their... tiny little swim suits.”

“Okay! Enough.” Luhan is done. It's bad enough he has to see the girls' upper halves spilling out of their swimwear. He really doesn't need to picture what the other half must look like from underwater. “You're sick. Sick and lame. You and Kyungsoo both.”

“Hey, it was his idea in the first place.”

“That's why I said you and Kyungsoo both. I want to paddle!” Luhan continues without even a pause. “Where is Minseok? He's supposed to be here by now and I don't have the patience to wait.”

“I thought you came out here to relax. This isn't going to help you, you know.”

Luhan pouts. 

Jongin gets an idea then. “Why don't you take the single since you're so impatient, and I'll wait for Minseok. Will that work?”

“That will work,” says Luhan, still pouting. 

“Okay, we'll catch up with you later then.”

 

 

 

If there’s one thing Luhan likes about paddling solo, it’s how he can make his own pace and there’s nobody to slow him down. He quickly takes off without a thought of waiting for the others. They can catch up or not; whatever floats their boat. 

Monday evenings on the river before the sun gets too low are some of the greatest times to paddle. Sure it’s hot and humid, but his clothes are made to get wet and they fit him like a second skin. He’s used to it. He’s not used to having the whole river to himself though, or at least feeling like it is. It’s heaven. Total heaven.

Or hell. 

It’s Monday evening, and there shouldn’t be anyone on the river except himself. There definitely should not be people tubing at this hour. Don’t these college kids know that there are conventions for things like this? Rules that Luhan mentally sets and they should know and abide by them?

Luhan’s stress level rockets when he first sees him, it shoots straight to the moon when he recognizes that ridiculous purple tube, but then it turns to glee when he realizes that Yes, there is a God, and He has tuned the water police to carrying out Luhan’s grand plans.

Lay and another tuber Luhan doesn’t recognize are pulled over by the side of the river bank, just south of a local restaurant that has the benefit of a river-side dining area. Who knows why the police decided to stop the two. Maybe he was just bored, but Luhan stops his boat just out of sight behind some low-hanging trees and watches cackling as the cop ushers Lay and his friend out of the water and goes for a breathalyzer. 

Well, this is new. He can’t wait to see them arrested. That other kid is dark-haired and grouchy looking, and definitely underage. Lay looks bored, though mildly annoyed. 

Luhan decides to pull forward and be witness to their doom. As the cop turns around he even recognizes him as one of the city police. Officer Joonmyun occasionally volunteers at big floating events, monitoring the crowd and attempting to keep people safe. He and Luhan know each other by sight and profession, though they've never technically been introduced. 

“So, you claim you haven’t been drinking today at all, huh?” Luhan overhears the officer say.

“No, sir,” says the young stranger.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Tao.”

“Alright, Tao, well you are…” He reads the device, frowns and then has to amend his words, “ _have not_  been drinking. Wow.” He does the same for Lay, who Luhan knows  _is_  above age but the officer doesn't know that. Again, there's no trace of alcohol. 

“I tried to tell you, sir,” says Lay. “I actually never drink while I’m on the river.”

“Really? Never?”

“No, sir. Designated driver sometimes with others, but my cousin’s just visiting and wanted to see the river from down here.”

Luhan’s canoe disturbs the water slightly as he pulls alongside the beached tubers, and Lay looks suddenly startled - and a little happy - to see him. 

Officer Joonmyun gives the man a frank nod of approval, and waves them off. “Well, my fault. Anyways, stay safe. And do get out before it gets dark, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

Luhan is terribly unhappy he paddled all the way out here and didn’t even get to see them hauled away. He’s also pissed that Lay waved off the officer with the same inane hand gesture that Luhan himself sometimes received. Lay even dares to do it again, now.

“Luhan, wow I said I would see you later, but I didn’t think it would be this soon.”

Luhan frowns from his boat. “It’s a Monday evening. Don’t you have anything better to do than this?” He indicates the tubes, ignoring the wide-eyed cousin beside him.

“I could say the same for you.” Lay smiles.

“ _I_  am paddling. This is a canoe. This is a noble exercise  _and_  it’s relaxing.”

“I find this relaxing too,” says Lay. “But I guess I’m missing out, not being able to canoe. Maybe you should teach me sometime. Doesn’t your shop do lessons as well as rentals? Might have to drop in sometime.”

“It’s by appointment only.” Truthfully Luhan is a little shaken that Lay actually knows his place of business. The shop isn't exactly right next door to his property which is further downstream.

“Sounds like a challenge,” Lay concludes. “See you sometime, Luhan.” 

He and Tao push off and continue south, and Luhan is so furious he refuses to go any farther. He turns around and paddles upstream, hoping to run into Jongin and Minseok and maybe let his friends help take his mind off this infuriating person he always seems to encounter. 

Just out of sight of the tubers Luhan hears the cousin suddenly shriek something about spiders in the trees, and he hears Lay rumble a deep, pleasant sort of laugh. Luhan paddles faster so he doesn’t have to hear it. 


	2. Chapter 2

Luhan is especially grateful that no one strange comes into his shop the following week. Just a few regulars here to rent a canoe or kayak for the day, and Luhan doesn't even have to do a lot of work to get them in and signed out. Minseok drives the customers out most days to the launching site where the boats are placed in the water; Jongin spends most of his work day doing repairs on damaged or banged-up boats, and Luhan gets to stand around indoors and look pretty for most of the day in his white t-shirt and khaki shorts. He only gives lessons by appointment, and the currently open sections in his notebook give him reason to be nervous. If somebody calls and asks for lessons this week, he'll unfortunately have to book them. He runs a business after all, and businesses need paying customers. 

By Friday evening though, nobody calls. Nobody meaning Lay, and Luhan is terribly happy about that. It must have been an empty threat. Lay wouldn't have the nerve to actually learn this grand and ancient past-time, of that Luhan is certain. Just picturing Lay seated in a canoe with a paddle between his hands, rowing gently down the river gives Luhan the shivers. Now that  _would_  be a sight... Would Lay even have the arm strength to sustain that? He thinks back to how nicely toned and muscular Lay's bare arms are. Such a waste that all they do is rest upon a tube every weekend.

Luhan closes up shop, not bothering to dismiss the staff because Jongin will let himself off whenever he's satisfied with his patch-up job, and Minseok is still out picking up the last set of paddlers for the day. Store hours are over at least, and that means Luhan can go home and rest. He makes a slight detour first though, stopping off at the liquor store because his supplies of the good stuff are running low, and tomorrow evening he's throwing a small get-together for his friends. A little campfire perhaps if the wind isn't bad, and some hot dogs that Kyungsoo will undeniably want to grill, but inevitably that takes too long and Jongin will boil them instead.

Ten minutes later, he parks his car and heads into the store. He needs a new bottle of medium priced whisky for his brother and something fruity in case his girlfriend comes, hard cider in case Minseok wants to be picky, and quality beer for the rest of them. Luhan picks up too many kinds of cheap beer cans from off the river. 19,000 cans on one festival day alone, and he reeked of the piss poor liquid for hours until he could get home and take a shower. Jumping in the river would have done nothing, because who knows what clouded the water that day.

Cheap beer makes him sick. 

And that's why Luhan by-passes the chilled refrigerated offerings and heads straight for the artisan beers: a double chocolate stout here, Belgian abbey ale there, a couple six-packs of American vanilla porter that are about the cheapest thing he ever allows himself to buy. But the best of the best - the stuff he only ever saves for himself and never shares, and Minseok teases him that one day only Luhan's significant other (like there'll ever be such a person) will ever be allowed to try it... the crown of beers: his Three Philosophers, quadruple ale with a hint of cherries, Belgian-style blend offering 'perfection, balance and pure drinking pleasure.'

It sits there on the shelf, waiting, and Luhan smiles because he already knows the taste. It's a whole pint of gorgeous brown liquid beautifully bottled with a corkscrew pull-out topper and  _yes_... this beer is for tonight. He's not going to waste it on a mere party. Not when he can have it all to himself--

But a hand rests on his bottle.  _His_  bottle.  _Luhan's_  bottle. And it's  _not_  Luhan's hand.

Something sickening clutches at Luhan's heart when he registers that there's also only one bottle on the shelf, and he knows for a fact the store doesn't carry more in the back. It's all or nothing, and somebody else is about to take it. Somebody's hand which is attached to an arm which is attached to a body decked out in a black tank and cut-off jeans and flip flops, and the person whose hand is stealing his beer is -

_No_. It can't be.

Dimples beam out of the man's face, and a fireball of rage emerges from Luhan's head.

"Lay." He says it as low and menacing as possible, eyes squinted and smoke billowing out of his ears. His heart races because this might just be the biggest showdown of his life.

"Oh, Luhan! Hello." The thief even has the nerve to smile at him.

"Lay," he repeats because that's all he can do. "What are you doing here?" He keeps himself cool, collected, containing the rage monster inside.

"Shopping? I did some reviews online and someone said this beer was really good. Have you tried it? Is it good? I've heard you were a bit of a beer connoisseur."

Luhan swears he has to be mocking him. There's no way Lay doesn't  _know_  that  _this_  beer, of  _all_  beers, is  _his_  beer, and he doesn't share.

"It's okay."

"Oh. Really? Well I might give it a try."

"I mean you probably won't like it very well," Luhan tries to clarify.

Lay's eyes shimmer for a second, but he doesn't remove his hand from the neck of the bottle and Luhan starts to panic.

"I guess I won't know until I try it."

"I mean that that bottle is my bottle." His chest constricts as his words speed up, irrationality starting to set in.

"Yours?"

"Yes, mine. I was going to buy it. It's mine, thank you. You probably won't like it, and it's the last one here so can I have it? Please?"

Lay smiles, and Luhan is now positive the little shit is messing with him. In a small voice, not unlike a child learning to plead with its parents, Lay opens his mouth. "I really wanted to try it though... won't you let me have it this time? They'll restock tomorrow, I heard someone say."

"But that bottle may not be restocked for another two weeks." Luhan swallows heavily. He bites his lip and narrows his eyes, no longer seeing Lay but just his bottle and another person's hand suffocating his precious beer. He's so focused on it that he almost doesn't notice that Lay is making an offering. Mumbled words and a question, but he misses it completely and has to utter a shocked, "Huh?"

"I said," Lay repeats. "That maybe we should open this one together?"

 

 

He refuses of course. Better to go home sad than to make Lay's night. He steam-rolls through the rest of the store, makes his purchase, and ten minutes later is outside loading his box into his car, and of course Lay's car would be parked right next to his.

"Last chance," says the nightmare of his life, holding up the bottle.

_My philosophers_ , Luhan squeaks to himself. He stands, keys in hand and sulks, speechless.

"My apartment is literally right there." Lay points to a building complex that is literally right across the street. Temptation pulls at him for all of thirty minutes - or rather thirty seconds. 

"Okay."

Lay smiles. "Awesome! Alright, follow me."

 

 

 

Lay's apartment is small and messy, exactly what Luhan would expect from a college student. He follows him warily inside, just like he followed him warily in his car, and how he followed him on tip-toes practically up three flights of stairs to the top corner unit. Lay carries the bag with the contraband, or rather - the only bottle that would tempt Luhan right inside the lion's den.

"Do you have a roommate?" he asks. 

Lay sets the bag on the counter and starts to unpack it. "Not tonight."

"Who's your roommate?"

"Jongdae," Lay answers. Luhan should have known better than to ask a stupid question. He ignores it. Meanwhile Lay doesn't even turn around. "How do you open this thing?" He is visibly confused by the twisty-tie contraption that wraps around the cork. 

Luhan smirks and steps up to the plate, determined to let his class be known. With dexterous fingers he removes the tie and unbottles it with a pop and a whiff of trapped air. Lay flinches, and Luhan can't contain his grin. "Got beer mugs?"

"Uhm, I have cups." Lay produces two flimsy, plastic red cups and Luhan wants to barf.

"Anything made of glass, at least?"

He divides the beer evenly into the glasses Lay manages to find, resisting the urge to pour more for himself than for Lay. He tightens his jaw. It's not Luhan's bottle, after all. He didn't purchase it, through no fault of his own other than to be two seconds late down the aisle. 

"Bottoms up?" Lay suggests.

Luhan frowns. "I prefer it to last a little longer than that. This isn't something you can just chug while going down the river, don't you know."

Lay smiles. "I'll take it from you then." He sips it as if it were wine and something about his lips wrapping over the top of his glass send Luhan into another fit. Contrary to his instructions, he chugs down a huge swig of beer,  _and_  promptly chokes on it. Just his luck. Not more than a drop or two actually escapes his mouth, but something at least dribbles down his chin as he throws down the glass and hastily wipes his mouth, avoiding Lay's amused stare. 

"You okay there?" 

"No, and thank you very much."

"What did I do?" Lay asks innocently.

Nothing. Lay never does anything. That's the problem Luhan has with him. He might be a college student, but all Luhan ever sees him do is float down the stupid river, and wave moronically, and ignore his idiot friends when they terrorize Luhan, and there goes Lay floating away like he's simultaneously a king and a bum. Then he has the nerve to steal Luhan's beer and pretend it was all a coincidence?

He drinks his glass faster than he normally would, the sooner to finish the nectar and run screaming from Lay's irritatingly benign apartment. It's a mess alright, but there's nothing about the indoor trappings that scream 'serial killer' and Luhan would have loved finding something damning, the better to nail down his hatred for the boy. Or maybe it's just an intense dislike. He supposes he can modify his feelings for Lay that much at least, since he offered to share.

Without moving out of the open kitchen, without even speaking more than half a dozen words to each other, they slowly drain their glasses. Luhan stares at a fly on the wall; Lay bores holes into his fridge door. Luhan grimaces at the dirty, grease-stained stovetop; Lay smirks and smiles to himself. Luhan tries not to notice the array of silly photos of Lay in magnetic frames on the fridge, and Lay tries not to stare too hard at Luhan's body.

Wait, what?

They slam their empty glasses to the counter at about the same time. Luhan's head feels nice, and the last of the liquid trickling down his throat tastes good. At half a pint of beer estimating 9.7% alcohol content, he's fine and happy. He's not quite to buzz level yet, but Lay has had less experience with this. His smile is a little funny, and when he offers something else to drink, Luhan takes the offer, refusing to be seen as the weak one here.

Several beers later - and at least they aren't from a can, otherwise Luhan might have high-tailed it out of there - he's completely loose, and talking more. Which is to say his insults are coming out freer, but Lay doesn't seem to care or even notice that Luhan is ripping up his cheap apartment with his eyes and mouth, or picking on his fashion. Lay just keeps on smiling, and by the time they've racked up half a dozen empty bottles between them Luhan is itching to frustrate him more.

He doesn't know how he ended up with his back to the fridge and Lay pressing in on him from all sides, and he really doesn't know why it feels so good to have those hands around his waist and under the edge of his shirt, teasing the skin there as if checking Luhan's resistance. He doesn't pull away, because Lay's lips feel so very good on his own, and they both taste like beer, good-tasting beer, and so why bother stopping? 

He should probably be making the same argument when Lay moves on from his lips, licking and sucking down his chin, but by the time he reaches his neck Luhan forgets all about that. It's more important to clutch at Lay back, hands roaming his sides and back, and that accursed black tank top  _really_  needs to go. He tugs at it and Lay gets the hint. He pulls back with a moan, staring for half a second into Luhan's eyes, questioning, looking for any reason to stop, but Luhan tugs again, and suddenly Lay rips the shirt over his head in one swift motion.

Luhan finally gets his hands on the chest he's always seen and never touched. He starts at his collar bones, fingers exploring slowly downwards, grazing sensitive areas and Lay steps closer to him. Their foreheads meet and their breaths accelerate as Luhan continues his descent. He stops at the top of Lay's shorts and rings them around to the back instead. Lay steps even closer and kisses him again, one pitiful sounding, "Luhan," echoing from his lips before they close ranks.

Luhan draws their hips inwards, grinding together and he moans when something just as hard as him presses back through restraining jean material. Lay's hands are back to roaming everywhere too. Everywhere but the one place he wants to be touched.

Between frantic kisses Lay gets his hand near to his zipper and then stays there. Luhan pulls away from him sloppily, angry at the delay. "Fuck, what are you waiting for?" He rolls his hips, eyes sinking nearly into the back of his head at the pleasure that induces. 

"Just waiting for that," Lay says. He wastes little time from then on. Luhan's button is quickly undone, his zipper follows, and a hand finds its way inside. It relieves some of the pressure but Luhan gasps when he feels himself finally exposed to the air. 

The surface of the fridge is uncomfortable and a long handle rests awkwardly along the side of his back. It's only fair that he flip positions until it's Lay with his back to the door. A few magnets fall off in the transition, but Lay doesn't lose hold of him. With one hand behind Luhan's back, bunched up in his shirt, he pulls and strokes with the other hand and grunts until Luhan relieves him in the same way. 

There's nothing graceful about it. Alcohol stains their breaths, and need takes over every other function of desire. They pant and heave and shove against one another until Luhan is spilling between Lay's fingers, setting off Lay's own climax, and when he comes it's with his lips against Luhan's ear and there's something about the way Lay whispers his name that sends an extra rush of blood coursing through his body.

It takes a few moments for them to settle down. Lay rests completely back on the door, and Luhan collapses on top of him, shorts still holding up but his shirt is probably stretched behind its capacity from the tightened, twisted grip Lay keeps on it.

"Damn," Luhan mutters.

After a few more pants, Lay answers him. "What?"

"That ended quickly."

It can only be because he's drunk that he thinks it's suddenly funny. He laughs, and Lay chuckles as well, confusion giving way to delight. Luhan folds his hands over Lay's shoulders to hold himself up, pulling upright a few more inches. He presses more kisses into Lay's neck just because... it's there. Lay lets go of his shirt in order that he can hold him up too, whimpering softly as their now soft organs rub against each other. 

Luhan should quit. He should stop kissing Lay's neck, stop following the line of bone across his front, and definitely should quit sucking on the chin that presents itself so tastily for him to eat up. But the more he tells himself to stop, the more noises he gets for a reaction, and it's thrilling. Thrilling to hear that once so cocky jerk come to pieces in his hands, moaning and begging wordlessly for more. 

He keeps on until the second round of desire begins to build up, both for him and for Lay. This time, however, Lay pushes him back and corners Luhan against the opposing countertop. 

"Let's do it again."

"Hmm?"

"For real. Let's do it again. In my bedroom." Lay kisses him then and if Luhan thought everything before that moment was fuzzy, it's about to get even worse.

One of the lasts things he remembers that night is lying back naked in Lay's bed with his legs spread and his knees up by his elbows as Lay fucks him long and deep. He remembers the intensity and the pain and the pleasure, and Lay whispering to him in the dark, and a whole lot of wet mess when he comes again, and then a blanket tucking him in.

 

 

 

It would all be fine if he didn't have to wake up in the morning. The light from an unfamiliar window disturbs him. So does the sound of a softly snoring body lying next to him, as well as an uncomfortable burn between his thighs. He extracts himself from the sheets and a rogue arm and leg, and desperately searches for his clothes. His shirt is disgusting but it'll have to do. His wallet and keys are still in the back pocket of his pants. Lay moans slightly in his sleep, and Luhan quits breathing for a moment, holding his breath that Lay won't wake up. He opens the bedroom door as soundlessly as possible and tip-toes through the apartment. His head hurts and now that the memories are returning he feels a little sick to his stomach too. 

"Good morning, there."

Luhan shrieks and drops the keys out of his hand. Jongdae is sitting on the couch, his hands on a piece of toast and the most hideous smile on his face. 

Luhan stares at him, panic resurfacing, and he can't think of a single thing to say except, "Uhhhh...."

"Heard you had some fun last night." He smirks. The crunch of his bite of toast goes straight to Luhan's stomach and now he really wants to be sick. 

"Uhhhhh," he repeats, and then speed-walks for the door.  _Shit_.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Lay hears him go and instead of getting up to follow him, because that probably would have been a useless endeavor, he curls up in the blankets for a little while longer because his pillow is fluffy and everything smells like Luhan. He drags himself out of bed a good two hours later - time seems to get away from him pretty easily on Saturday mornings - and meets his roommate with a wry, little smile. 

“You missed your boyfriend,” Jongdae informs him. “Ran out of here about two hours ago with his tail between his legs.”

Lay snorts and drops into the couch by his friend. Jongdae actually looks impressed by him, but he also looks like he's waiting for Lay to spill the details, and between the shopping trip and the beers and Luhan ending up in his bed, Luhan, his nearly four-year long crush, Lay kind of wants to keep some memories to himself. He smiles and refuses to say anything. 

“Was he good? Was  _it_ good? How'd you get him here? Did he finally cave? Are you dating him? I bet you aren't dating him. I bet he's too freaked out to date you,” Jongdae says all in a row. 

All Lay can do is continue to smile to himself and chuckle when his roommate doesn't get any answers. He searches for the remote, intending to see what's on TV and ignore him thoroughly.

“Pssh, whatever,” Jongdae finally gives up. For all of five minutes. “You know he's having a party at his place tonight, right?”

That gets Lay's attention. He turns to him sharply. “How do you know?”

Jongdae wiggles his eyebrows and smiles evilly. “Nah, my turn to keep secrets.” He's not as good as maintaining his silence though. “Okay, so I happen to have a mutual acquaintance in the form of his brother's girlfriend's friend,” - “Sehun?” - “Yeah, Sehun, and he told me... that there would be a small gathering tonight... sounds like the perfect opportunity to float by, maybe get out and defile some private property, see if your boyfriend will invite us up?”

Lay's brain is definitely thinking on overdrive now. Not hyper-overdrive. Just lazy overdrive, because it's too early to get super excited about seeing Luhan again. It's only been a few hours after all.

“He's not my boyfriend,” is all he says out loud.

“Oh yeah.  _Forgot_  about that. Well, that answers one question. Answer to question number two is this: how about we do some trespassing tonight?”

Lay likes this idea. He has no idea what Luhan will do if he turns up, but if he does any kind of blushing - and Lay's sure he will - it can't be anything other than completely worthwhile.

“He's gonna hate your guts, if we show up, isn't he?” Jongdae correctly reads the situation.

“Yep,” Lay confirms. “Let's do it.”

 

 

 

Luhan reaches home in complete panic-mode. He showers and scrubs himself hard, and freaks out a little more and thanks God for the mercy of having his own place and no one living with him, so nobody will know. Nobody will ever know except him and Lay. And Jongdae... He takes back his thanks. There is no mercy in this world.

_Shit._  He freaks out again.

He never meant for any of this to happen and it is totally  _not_  his fault that Lay tricked him with the  _Three Philosophers_. He's never going to be able to drink that beer again, and it's entirely that jerk's fault. It'll always be associated with him now.  _With Lay_. He's ruined his favorite beer for life, therefore life must not be worth living anymore. He might as well throw in the towel and buy a case of Bud Lite because that's what he's got left now that quality artisan craft is denied to him.

What's worse though is that he remembers everything. Lay's soft lips and the way he gently kissed and caressed Luhan's skin. The way his kisses were totally in contrast with his hands when they were around... him. Or when  _he_  laid over him…

Luhan shakes his head. Shakes everything out. He's done with that boy, and it'll never happen again. He stomps around his kitchen angrily clutching a glass of water because his stomach feels weird from the slight bit of alcohol still left in his system. No hangover though, so he's got that to be thankful for. It also means he didn't get as drunk as he could have gotten. Which also means that part of last night wasn't exactly him losing control... It was about him taking control...

Luhan stops his pacing and squeezes his eyes shut furiously.  _How could he have done that?_  Initiated that...  _with Lay?_  Even if he was so enticing...  _How could he...?_  This whole thing is a nightmare, but at least no one  _else_  will ever know.  Luhan takes himself to bed and sleeps away the rest of the morning and afternoon, and he definitely doesn’t dream about a certain pink-skinned tuber with a killer hip thrust.

 

 

Luhan awakes with a few hours to spare before his friends are due to arrive. He puts on a new shirt, and runs his fingers through his hair and does a quick neck check to see if there are any marks on him. There aren’t, thank God, although there might be a few finger-sized bruises forming on the backs of his thighs. But nobody will see those anyways.

He doesn’t bother picking up around the place because none of his friends will care. He does make sure the fridge is well-stocked and that there are enough gourmet side-dishes to go around: chips and salsa and one measly can of chili in case anyone wants to get super fancy with their hot dogs.

Kyungsoo actually arrives first – bless his heart – because he wants to get a head start on the grill before Jongin gets there and gets impatient. He grunts and says ‘hi’ on his way through to the back of the house, and Luhan waves him by. He and Luhan aren’t the best of pals, but he thinks Kyungsoo tolerates him well enough because he employs Jongin, and that ensures that Jongin has plenty of money to spend adventuring with Kyungsoo in the deeps of the ocean, or in river beds.

Not ten minutes later Jongin himself shows up, riding along with Minseok, and by the time they unpack the groceries and Minseok’s picked out a hard cider and Jongin’s already started arguing with Kyungsoo, his brother shows up – thankfully without his girlfriend. Luhan can hide the girly drinks and feel like a man. He tips back his chocolate stout and guzzles, right at the moment his brother thumps a hand down on his shoulder, hard.

He sputters, choking back half of the liquid in his mouth.

“Shit, Kris! What was that for?”

“Just my way of saying hello?” his giant of a brother replies.

“I was drinking! You’re going to ruin this bottle for me, and I’ve already had one bottle rui—” Luhan shuts up really quick.

“What was that?” Kris asks.

“Nothing,” Luhan says sardonically. He leaves him in the kitchen and heads out to find the rest of the guys.

Kyungsoo the grill-master has won out from Jongin the pot-boiler and now the item of business is deciding how many hot dogs to actually make. Minseok sits in a chair to the side looking bored and holding the tray of uncooked dogs while they make up their minds.

“Well, how many of us are here,” Luhan starts to say, ignoring a twitch in his ear that says something is coming down the river, “and how many do we each plan to eat?”

Kyungsoo counts. “Five, and if we each have two, that makes ten hot dogs.”

“You’re only going to eat two, Soo? Really? I can eat like five!” Jongin complains.

More noises off in the distance, and it just can’t be the sound of someone singing… It just can't.

“Alright. How about if I plan on three per person and you can eat mine and whatever the rest of us not-pigs don’t eat?”

“That’s only fifteen. What if Minseok also eats five?”

The man in question raises his eyebrows, but refuses to contribute to the argument. Jongin looks to Luhan to help make a decision, but Luhan stops him with a hand up in the air signaling quiet.

“Do you hear that?” Luhan’s heart starts to pound.

“Hear what?” Kyungsoo asks.

Someone on the river just out of sight is singing, and someone else is splashing madly, and someone else is shouting and laughing. One two three, and the fourth is silent. How does he know there’s a fourth one? Because his heart is starting to pound.

“Oh no…”

It can’t be. Not tonight. Why tonight? They never float this late in the day! They’re at least three hours behind schedule, and Luhan purposefully slept through their customary float-time so he could avoid them just in case – one of the first times he’s done this – but here they are, and worse – here Luhan is with all of his friends and Lay probably won’t say anything but then there’s Jongdae…

“Crap.”

“What is it?” Minseok asks. “Tubers? So what?”

“Are they…  _those_ tubers?” Jongin asks with slightly more emphasis. He smiles a knowing smile, and Luhan kind of wants to punch him now. He doesn't really approve of the idea of violence, but right now he might could give it a try. It might be good practice incase he needs to fling a slingshot at that troll beagle if Jongdae dares to open his mouth.

“I don’t get it,” Kris says. “There’s always someone coming down the river?” He shrugs but turns to look just as the quartet down on the river start winding into view.

“It’s because Luhan’s boyfriend is down there,” Jongin jokes and cracks up at the sight of Luhan’s livid face. “Hey, Lu, I’ve never figured it out, but which one of them is it? You always talk about them, but the most I ever hear you complaining about is Jongdae? Is he the one? Is Jongdae your boyfriend?” He cackles.

“WHAT?” The flush on Luhan’s cheeks threatens to engulf him. “Jongdae? NO, it’s  _not_ Jongdae!”

“Oh, so you admit it’s another of them then?”

“Luhan, you have a boyfriend?” Kris looks confused.

“No, I do  _not_  have a boyfriend, and even if I did, it would  _not_  be with Jongdae, or—”

“Or is it Lay?” Jongin cuts him off. Luhan definitely wants to murder him now.

“No… we are not dating,” he tries calmly to explain.

“We? Oh, so there’s a ‘we’ involved? Lu, why are you blushing so badly? I started this as a joke but now you’re on fire! I think I must actually be right about something here.” Jongin laughs himself senseless and Luhan fumes and the others are starting to get a clue. Luhan doesn’t know who to go after first, but then Kris says something frightening.

“Luhan, they’re stopping… Do they do this often? It’s private property, or have you said it’s okay or something?”

Luhan wheels around and panics. Four tubers are indeed stopped at the gravel bar and are indeed getting up. Three yellow tubes and one ridiculously purple-colored puff of circular plastic are being dragged up off the river, and if their owners were anyone other than Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Jongdae and… Lay… Luhan would march right down there and shove them off. Puncture holes like a tire-saboteur and then maybe drown them like puppies – and… wow, if this is the reaction the foursome are capable of garnering from Luhan’s normally sweet-tempered self then this is a level of stress he absolutely doesn’t need.

“No, it’s not okay.” Luhan nearly yells. His feet are frozen though, as are his friends and brother as Luhan allows – passively – the strangers to ascend the hill. 

“Hey, we heard there was a party!” Baekhyun says when they’re within shouting distance.

“Yeah, sorry we’re late!” Chanyeol adds.

“You invited them?” says Minseok.

“No, I didn’t invite them!” Luhan shouts at his friend. To the newcomers then, a little shrilly, he adds, “Hey, what are you guys doing? This is private property and you were not invited and… how did you even know?”

“Heard it from a friend,” Jongdae casually explains.

“Oh yeah? What friend?” Luhan tries to focus, and by focus, he means on the matter at hand, and not on the way Lay trails lazily behind the others with the cutest little half-smile in the world.

“Guy named Sehun. Do you know him?” Jongdae turns to Kris and actually offers his hand by way of introduction. “Oh, you must be Kris. Heard a lot about you. Well, second-hand really. My friend has a class with your girlfriend. I was hoping to meet her today actually. Isn’t she here?”

“Uhhhhh,” says Kris.

“Does this mean I should cook all twenty hot dogs?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Might as well,” says Minseok.

“Who did you say Sehun was hanging out tonight with?” Chanyeol whispers to Baekhyun.

“A girl but I wouldn’t mention anything actually…” Baekhyun whispers back, and Luhan hears it all although he really hopes Kris didn’t.

“So, all twenty dogs!” Jongin exclaims happily. “But wait, that means there still isn’t enough for each of us to have five…”

“We are not having five hot dogs each,  _and_  they are not staying!” Luhan declares. To absolutely no one because no one is paying him any attention. Jongdae is already worming his way into the house with an arm around Kris’s tall shoulder, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol are crowding around the meat and the beer, and his friends are being absolutely no help. On the contrary, they are friendly and inviting and Jongin is actually facilitating introductions all around and persuading everyone not to eat too many hot dogs.

“Oh hey! You have Smirnoff! Great!” Baekhyun exclaims a few seconds later, and Luhan wants to die because he forgot to hide the girly drinks and now his reputation as a beer connoisseur is ruined.

“Hey,” says a little voice in his ear. Luhan jumps about two feet in the air.

He calms his heart and composes himself. “Hello,” he says, already working the magic of a master scheme to make this whole thing not as awkward as it actually is, and that is to pretend like nothing is amiss. 

“Again,” Lay says with an upward lilt in his voice.

“Again, what?”

“Hello, again…” The brat who goes by the name of Lay smiles again, and that’s what confirms once and for all that he is a mischief-maker, bound to bring all sorts of troubles into Luhan’s life.

Luhan clears his throat and ignores him. Unfortunately Lay has no intention of being ignored.

“So, I was wondering if you had any other good beers for me to try?” His focus is entirely on Luhan, but sadly the focus of his friends is beginning to shift from Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s food obsession to the quiet one with Luhan’s full, embarrassed attention. With no other option though, Luhan’s master plan starts to fall apart and he curtly introduces his beverage selection to Lay all the while pretending like he’s never done this before. Jongin watches them out of the corner of his eye, and Luhan’s paranoia grows.

Jongdae comes out of the house again just as Kyungsoo starts the sizzling of the hot dogs, and the look on his face can’t mean anything good.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Baekhyun asks him.

“Went looking for a bathroom! I’ve been holding it for ages, and you know how I never pee in the river, right?” His smirk suggests otherwise. “Hey, Luhan. I passed by your bedroom. Nice polka-dotted bedsheets! Bet they’re soft. Oh, but I guess you didn’t sleep in them last night, did you?” He picks out a cider, knocks the bottle in a mini-celebration with Minseok’s matching cider and Luhan smolders.

Jongin’s jaw drops. So do Kyungsoo’s and Minseok’s, the latter’s hand frozen in air where Jongdae’s met it. Kris is confused. Neither Baekhyun nor Chanyeol look quite as surprised.

“Lu,” Jongin says quietly. “What… why does he… don’t you sleep at home…? Unless…”

Lay has the grace to actually blush, and all of his friends catch it. He’s standing within one foot of Luhan and doesn’t move away. Luhan turns and their elbows collide.

“Uhhm,” Luhan starts to say.

“So anyways,” Kyungsoo interrupts, “did we ever decide how many of these things we’re making tonight? I don’t think we’ll have enough. Does someone want to go to the corner grocery store and pick up some more?”

“I’ll go,” Luhan immediately volunteers.

“Ohh, can I go with you?” Lay also says.

“No.”

“Oh, okay, then I’ll just stay here with your friends.”

_Here with his friends…_  Luhan debates sending Jongdae for all of ten seconds except there’s no legitimate reason why a party-crasher like him should go. The consequences of going or staying weigh heavily in his mind, and why the hell didn't he make his bed after this afternoon’s nap? Luhan reasons that Jongdae would have found anything to say no matter what the circumstances, and right now he just needs to breathe away from everybody else. 

“Fine. Come with me.”

Lay trails him like a puppy to his car, and then takes the keys from his hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Driving? You were drinking earlier,” Lay casually explains.

“I had two sips! Two sips before you guys ruined my night!”

Lay chuckles. “Sorry.” They get in and Lay starts the car.

Luhan waits until they are halfway down the drive before his emotions get the better of him, again. “Sorry? That’s all you have to say? You trespass on private property and crash my party, steal the keys to my car and all you say is sorry?”

“Actually, I was kind of hoping you’d have something to say about last night. Or at least about this morning. Which way do I go? I don’t know where this corner store is,” Lay says without missing a beat.

Luhan splutters and gasps and then shuts up, and finally, finally, he starts to think about his actions and the tiny spark of guilt starts to creep into his features. 

“Uhh, turn right here… What… wasn’t that just like a one-time thing or… something…?”

Lay sighs, his face still pleasant and focused on the road. “I guess so, if that’s what you want.”

It’s so even-toned that it makes Luhan suddenly twice as guilty, three times as guilty, quadruple times by the time they hit the main highway and Lays sits at the stop sign waiting for an opening in the traffic.

“What… what do you want?” Luhan dares to ask.

Lay passes up a perfectly good opportunity to pull out into the highway, and smiles a little wistfully.

“Honestly?” His eyebrows perk up as he stares at the passing cars, and then doesn’t elaborate for a few more seconds.

“Yeah…” Luhan prompts.

“Honestly I want to pull this car over and drag you outside of it and make out against the hood and reach into your pants again. Then I want to go and get some more hot dogs and then go back and try a different beer, but all that’s really just a suggestion. We can skip the make-out session if you want.”

Luhan gulps and tries not to think back to memories from last night, but he fails miserably. Oh so miserably. 

“If you back up about twenty feet there’s a driveway behind us that no one uses.”

Lay immediately thrusts the car into reverse and jams the gas pedal.


	4. Chapter 4

No one says anything when Luhan and Lay return a bit later than they technically should have. Or well, correction - nobody says anything  _much_. Jongdae gives them an appraising look, now buddy-buddy with Jongin as the two converse in near-whispers, and not soft enough that Luhan can't hear every other phrase. They sound a lot like 'so how spacious is his car?' and 'so tell me what Lay's like?' and something about 'a match made in heaven'  _giggle giggle_.

Luhan is terribly disappointed in his best friend. Jongin used to be such a good kid, but then Kyungsoo ruined him, and now Jongdae looks like he's about to finish off the job.

Minseok is involved in a painstaking tutorial with Baekhyun and Chanyeol about how to start a fire, and the two novices  _wow_  and  _awe_  at every spark. Kris stands by holding in his arms a pile of sticks he hasn't figured out how to put down, and Kyungsoo leans up against the side of the house with his arms crossed watching them work with all the superiority of a lord. 

Lay holds up the cheap plastic bag with fresh groceries and Kyungsoo just kind of scoffs. 

“The grill's gone cold. Guess you can just boil the rest.”

Jongin looks up finally. “More food? I'll do it!”

 

Despite the fact that  _everybody knows_ , Luhan doesn't know how to talk to Lay for the rest of the night. Some of the time they stand silently next to each other while Luhan tries to remember how to small-talk. He fails. For most of the night they stand opposite each other with the fire in between, and Luhan watches scandalized as his friends make room for their new friends, just like Luhan had never spent years warning them off. Waste of an effort.

He senses Lay looking at him, keeping tabs on him, nearly talking to him, but it turns out they're better together when they're  _not_  talking and Luhan doesn't know why that angers him more and more as the night goes on. He uses most of his words for criticizing Chanyeol's shoddy fire-maintenance techniques, especially when Chanyeol adds a log too big and nearly stifles the whole thing.

“What? I'm sorry!” the giant cries. “I'm fine when I'm playing around with just candles and a lighter!” 

“You play around with lighters?” Baekhyun laughs.

“Hey, I like fire!” Chanyeol claims. The last spark in the campfire, however, dies down as he speaks. “Usually.”

Minseok just sighs and gets up to help him start it again.

 

 

Luhan learns second-hand through listening to the guys talk that the four newcomers have all actually graduated, and while half of them are from the area and probably won't be leaving the area, the others - meaning Lay - decided not to be done with school just yet. 

It's been four years since Luhan first saw them, he realizes with a jolt. Four years, and something about the fact that Lay is committing to at least another two years here makes his heart sing. He just can't figure out how to make that come out in words...

It's late finally when the four of them leave almost the way they came. They tuck their tubes under their arms as they load up into Minseok's truck to drop them off.  Chanyeol had left their return vehicle at a park just a few more river bends down. Luhan watches them pile up and drops his mouth to say something, but Lay hops into the vehicle, smiles and waves cutely, and then they're off.

Luhan doesn't know what he expected. For Lay not to run off like he was without a care in the world? For Lay to not at least signal Luhan around the side of the building for... impromptu goodbye make-outs? Or for Lay to actually ask to stay the night like a boyfriend might have done? The last part is sillier than the rest, Luhan chides himself. They're not dating... They just...  _do_  stuff... did stuff...  _twice_.  _Only_  twice.

“Cheer up, dude. You can try again next time.” Jongin clasps him on the back.

“T-try what again?”

Jongin hitches a ride home with Kyungsoo this time, the driver giving Luhan one sad, pathetic look on his way that spells  _incompetent dope_  to Luhan's mind better than any words could have said it. 

He finds Kris passed out on his sofa and decides to leave him there. Plenty of time tomorrow for Kris to get up and realize his girlfriend's probably been cheating on him with a guy named Sehun. 

 

 

The rest of the weekend goes by without a single interesting thing happening. Monday dawns, and still nothing interesting. Jongin jokes with Luhan in only the vaguest ways, asking when his little boyfriend is coming around, and 'Oh hey. Do you even have his number? He laughs and traipses off, and Luhan glares daggers into his open appointment book wishing someone would sign up for a class so he could fill up all this blank time he has to... be alone and irritable. It never bothered him before so much, so why on earth does he have to get this way now is beyond his comprehension. Actually, he knows it has something to do with Lay, and that makes him more annoyed at the boy than ever before. How dare he float into Luhan's world and then leave him hanging.

Minseok sneaks up on him one day and lays a hand gently, conspiratorially across his shoulders, whispering into his ear. "You know... I bet Jongin could get you a number if you really want it..." He winks and waits for an answer.

"No," Luhan says firmly.  _But actually a number would be great..._ "No."

"Suit yourself." Minseok shrugs and goes off to finish a job.

His world falls apart though when Jongin tells him he found a new student, and that Jongdae will be signing up for a solo class on Friday. And no, Jongin can't do it because he's too busy working on a big project and he can't take time off to get into the river. Luhan's on his own, and he's not looking forward to it. 

He doesn't even dress up come Friday morning. Usually when he's teaching a course Luhan wears his best, least ratty swim trunks and water-repellent shirt because he wants to look professional and not give the impression that he's just a bum with a canoe shop. Today though he can't find his best water shoe/sandals and to match the look he wears his most faded navy blue tank that,  molded into every lithe muscle on his torso, would look good on him if he had the hair-do to match. Instead, his light brown hair flops around in a weird bob because he hasn't bothered to cut it, and he doesn't bother even washing it this morning because it's just Jongdae, and it's going to get wet anyway. 

He thinks back on all of these poor decisions when he stands beside Minseok's truck waiting for his friend to help him load up, and watching as his customer comes up the drive. Not Jongdae. It's Lay. And Jongin will probably be dead before the day is out if Luhan has any say in the matter.

Those bastards set him up, and judging by the smirk on Lay's face, he knows it too,  _and_  he was probably a part of it. 

Luhan catches a glimmer of his fluffy hair in the truck window reflection and the scowl on his face makes him look even worse. Here he stands looking like a thirteen year old kid whose mom can't be bothered to dress him well, and there comes Lay in all of his finest. Luhan doesn't even have the words to describe how perfect he looks. It pisses him off.

"Hi," Lay says. 

Luhan is frozen in his spot. It takes another happy, inquiring look from his soon-to-be-student before he can stutter out a greeting. "H-hey."

"You don't look all that happy to see me. And here I was, remembering how you invited me to learn this grand old sport, but if you don't have time I can schedule it for another time with someone else." Nothing about Lay's tone or body language suggests he's going anywhere today. In fact, he keeps stepping closer, one slow footstep every few words. 

"Ahh, that's alright. Today is fine," says Luhan. 

Jongin happens to walk across the driveway behind Lay's back, snickering as he goes. Luhan can't even sneer back because Lay is standing too close to him, staring him too closely in the face with a curious expression. He thinks Lay may even be glancing down at his lips every so often. He squints his eyes and bites his lip none too sexily. Maybe if Luhan can just... take a step back he'll be able to breathe easier. 

"Well, you should learn. It's... good you want to. Ready to go?"

Lay nods a couple of times, mouth pursed and eyes still straying. Apparently not even Luhan's sloppy outfit is turning Lay off today. He's not sure how he feels about that, because on one hand he looks like crap, and on the other hand, if Lay's still looking while he looks like crap then maybe Lay just has terrible taste or something. Or maybe he shouldn't think too hard about it.

Minseok hauls them and the boats to the river and leaves them there.  _Traitor_ , Luhan thinks. But now he has other problems to worry about aside from his rebellious set of friends. Problems that are namely Lay, and his rapt attention to everything Luhan does or shows him. He lets Luhan give a practical tour of the boat before they've even put into the water, shows him how to hold the paddle and demonstrates the strokes. He definitely doesn't do any hands-on demonstration because that's dangerous territory, and Luhan still can't forget about the last time they had any hands-on interaction. A whole week ago just about...

"Are we ready for the water yet?" Lay interrupts him.

Luhan has to clear his head to understand what he's talking about, and then oh. "Oh, yeah." He's wasted thirty minutes on land and Lay isn't even wet yet.

"Oh, good." Lay mimics him as they pull their boats into the water's edge and wade out into the shallow end. 

Luhan takes it slow, pointing and directing Lay's every movement, wondering if whether or not he should have just brought a two-seater boat, the better to instruct him, and or have a great view of his backside. It's too late for that now though. Kind of like his decision not to shower this morning. But oh well, because even though he's not sitting directly behind his student, the view is still pretty great. Lay's body definitely looks like it was made for this, the way his muscles pull and contract and his face pleasantly relaxes in the water. The smile folds out into an open grin as Lay happily keeps pace with Luhan. 

After a minute though Luhan figures out what's wrong with this picture. Lay is too graceful in the water, too sure of himself and his movements. Too much smirking when Luhan's face drops into a curious, suspicious glare.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Luhan accuses him, voice low.

Lay smiles back, still gliding along easily in the water.

"Haven't you??" Luhan insists.

Another smile, even bigger than the first.

"You have!" Luhan is pissed. "You have! You're a pro at this and you let me-" His words trail off as his fury gets the better of him. He's been standing in the dirt for half an hour looking like an idiot, all the while Lay just let him  _and_  acted away like he's never done this before. "You! You...." He can't even say it anymore. His face burns and his hands twitch, energy bristling and there's no outlet to let off the steam because Lay is too far away to smack in the head, although Luhan would really like to. There's a lot of things he wants to do right now.

Which is why he completely misses seeing the low-laying boulder just beneath the surface of the water, and why his boat smacks right into it causing a loud collision that has Luhan seething and paddling desperately to keep himself and his canoe right-side-up. Not that there's any danger if he topples over. The water isn't more than five feet deep right here, but it will desperately hurt his pride if Lay sees that, and his pride is already ruined enough.

"You okay?" Lay glides up alongside him grinning.

"I'm fine!" Luhan insists. He's breathing heavily and still embarrassed, and he absolutely refuses to look at the guy. 

Which is why he isn't paying attention to the length of Lay's oar as he extends it past himself to deliberately rock Luhan right out of his seat.

Luhan puts up a great cry of surprise, gasps and over-compensates, and ends up rolling right over the other side of the boat and into the water, his boat now floating bottom-side-up. He sputters and flails and chokes on water before remembering that he can actually put his feet down. Drenched and fuming, he grabs onto his flipped boat and the oar as it tries to float away, all the while expecting to hear someone laughing because this  _is_  that idiot's fault after all. He doesn't hear it though.

The bottom of the river is squishy beneath his feet and half of his bangs are caught across his face. He must look like a drowned rat hanging onto his canoe, and still no laughter. Luhan tosses his head and stares about wildly looking for Lay. His tormenter hasn't gone far. On the contrary, Lay is still in his boat smiling down at him like nothing is wrong.

"Cute," he says.

Luhan blinks at him in response. "What?"

"I said, you're cute. Like that."

"Like what."

"The river look."

Luhan refuses to even answer that. He puts his canoe back to right, and because he's mad he doesn't even want to get back in it. Instead he walks himself and the boat to the bank and Lay follows them over. He wants to pout. His whole day is ruined, as if it wasn't ruined before now. In some way maybe Jongdae would have been better... no, not really.

He pulls himself up onto the grass just out of the water, still fuming. But then Lay plops down onto the grass next to him and leans back on his palms. Luhan monitors him through his peripheral vision, just to make sure he doesn't try to do something else.

"I wasn't planning on taking a swim today," he tells him.

"Oh?"

"I can't believe you know how to do this." Luhan is still complaining.

"Sorry."

"No you're not."

Lay chuckles. "Maybe not completely. But it was cute to watch you try so hard."

Luhan snorts. "Well, I'm glad you had your fun."

"Mmm," Lay agrees. "I did."

Luhan smacks him on the chest with his extended arm, and when that doesn't gain him a reaction he shakes his hair out wildly like a dog. Lay gasps at the first drops of flying water, hands protecting his face as he cringes away. Luhan keeps doing it until Lay retaliates and hits back. Finally they're both laughing and Lay tackles him to the ground. 

Luhan feels gross. He's covered in river water and now practically laying in the dirt. He really wants a shower and he kind of wants Lay to come with him. Not to shower though! Or... maybe. 

He hasn't seen him or spoken to him in six days. Plus they apparently can't be around each other without something happening, and then that something is over and one of them is gone. Luhan still kind of feels bad for sneaking out on Saturday morning, but then what he was supposed to do? With no real idea of who Lay is other than the guy he's sort of hated for four years (for no real reason, he confesses to himself now), Luhan is still very unsure about things. 

All he knows is that it kind of feels natural, in spite of his initial misgivings. And now that there's no one around to witness them together, maybe they should talk...

Lay rolls onto his stomach, inches from where Luhan lies on his back, and looks down on him. He feels suddenly very self-conscious. 

"Hey," Lay says.

Luhan feels like they've had this part of the conversation before. Many times in fact, and they never seem to get any further. Usually because their friends interrupt them or... 

Lay kisses him. Like he's doing now. Without preamble, and without passion. It's just a gentle press of the lips and he closes his eyes, willing himself not to overly respond and ruin the whole thing. Lay lifts his head and Luhan dares to open his eyes.

"Hey, what?" he says softly. 

"Let's date," Lay says.

"Okay."

Lay smirks. "Just like that? No fight, no argument?"

"Nope."

"Are you usually this easy?"

"Nope. Ask my friends."

"I already did," Lay tells him.

Luhan sighs and covers his eyes with his hands. "You're a brat." He smiles.

"I know. Hey, you know what we should do something?"

"What. Go on a real date sometime?"

"Hmmm, that's a plan. But the real question is where. And how...?"

"I think I may not want to date you anymore," says Luhan fearfully.

Lay rolls over again on his side and props his head up with his hand, completely chill and in control of the situation. Luhan wants to see more of him like this. He wants to see more of Lay just being natural, kind of like how he's always liked him just floating around, in and about and passing through Luhan's life, and the only reason he gets annoyed is because he never seemed to stop and give Luhan more of a chance. 

Okay so he was playing hard to get. But he still hates those idiot friends of Lay's, and their coolers of beer, and their music, and their loud obnoxious voices, and the fact that they seem to do nothing more than float down the stupid river, and leave their trash all over the place. And no, Luhan is never going to be okay with tubing, no matter how much he likes Lay. 

Speaking of Lay... the guy smiles. "Nah, you won't get out of this so easily anymore... Besides, I already bought a bright blue tube with your name on it." 

Lay will kill him one of these days, of that he's certain. That or Luhan will die of mortification if his friends ever find out.

He exhales a long breath and beats the ground with his feet and whines and cries.  ".........Okay, fine."

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: This chapter is rated NC-17 for explicit public, outdoor sex. Also, improper use of a light blue inner tube. Read on at your own risk. You're welcome. (Additional note: No voyeurs were spotted in the making of this scene, however I wasn't looking around all that thoroughly and neither, I'm sure, were Layhan :)

No one ever said dating Lay would be easy. Luhan was the first to warn himself,  _had_ been warning himself for years probably if he'd just stopped to think about it. Every reason he supposedly had for disliking the boy came down to just one thing: tubing.   
  
He should have been stronger than this. He should have put up a bigger fight. He should have been a man about it and absolutely refused to be subjected to this accursed recreation. And instead, here he is on a Tuesday evening - the only day of the week he would agree to, because who in the world is seriously out tubing on a Tuesday? Answer, no one but him. Luhan. Luhan and Lay.   
  
"My armpits are starting to ache," Luhan complains after only fifteen minutes of slow, steady floating. Lay looks totally relaxed as is his custom, head reclining and arms dangling nicely, feet up and he bobs his foot to the rhythm of some song in his head. He hums parts of it every now and then. It completes his cool look. Luhan on the other hand feels like he's sitting in a tube made out of cactus prickles. The light blue inner tube Lay picked out for him is a nice enough color, to be sure - and totally devoid of prickles - but it's totally awkward on him. He doesn't like it. He feels exposed and stupid, and there's no worse combination in his opinion.  
  
"Armpits don't hurt. You're just not used to holding your arms like this," Lay tries to assure him.   
  
"And why would I ever need to practice holding my arms like this. It's useless. Useless. You're not even using muscles like this. Well, barely any." Luhan supposes the energy he consumes holding his butt vaguely up in the water is worth some form of exertion, however minimal.   
  
"It's not supposed to be a sport. You're supposed to relax, chill, enjoy life. See the world from this angle."  
  
Luhan scoffs, lightly so as not to hurt Lay's feelings. He doesn't show it very often but Luhan suspects he's a sensitive guy. Lay also has an endless sense of patience, for which he puts most of it to use on Luhan's mindless grumbling. Luhan still feels partially guilty for this. Reason one why he's out here tubing and trying to understand the 'good life according to Lay'. Reason one-and-a-half is because he really, really likes Lay and he wants to get to know him better, understand him better.  
  
Reason number two is because Lay is super hot, and there's no better way to appreciate his fine form than in a swim suit, and sometimes - like today - Lay can even be persuaded to float without a shirt on. Score.  
  
No shirts make everything better for later on after they've spent almost two hours floating the short distance from the shop back to Luhan's property. No shirts make it easy to ogle when Lay bends over to drag his tube out of the water and up the bank several meters into the grass. It gives Luhan a direct line of sight to how Luhan's muscles ripple from the twist, how his taut stomach barely folds when he bends over, how it straightens and glistens when he stands up. How it reminds Luhan that really, technically, those abs belong to him. After all this time, Lay is his.  
  
Luhan deposits his tube next to Lay's, happier now that their little excursion is done. The sun is low in the sky, but it's still rather light outside in spite of the shadows that are starting to drag long through the trees. Luhan glances around, hands on his hips, admiring the place that's also his.   
  
For this reason he doesn't notice the glimmer in Lay's eyes just seconds before the other grabs him on the waist and spins him around, although he does have just enough foresight to part his lips before Lay crashes his mouth to his. Now this is something Luhan's gotten used to, the quick transition from silent type to ravenous monster. Lay makes that switch like a pro, and so even though Luhan knows it's probably coming, he still gasps loudly when Lay comes up for air and without a second to spare has Luhan twisted around like a doll, on the ground and on his knees.   
  
"Get into the tube," Lay directs him gruffly.   
  
"Wha-?"  
  
"Put your knees inside the tube." He's behind him all the way, rushing Luhan along so that a moment later Luhan's knees are inside the tube, kneecaps on grass, his upper body resting on the side of the tube, head and arms dangling off the side, and the best part of all - or maybe the worst - his feet are in the air, held up by his shins which rest on the inner side of the tube. The result is that he's got his ass completely on display, although as of yet he's still covered. Lay kisses him from behind, bracketing his entire body while hands roam and his shirt gets tossed over his head almost immediately, the better for Lay's hands to lovingly coat his skin inch by precious inch. His fingers burn, but not nearly so much as his lips that nibble everywhere along his neck and shoulders, and then down, a little further down.   
  
Luhan gulps when Lay's fingers get another idea though. They're pulling at his swim trunks even though it's still daylight out, and anyone could happen by without more than a moment's notice.   
  
"What? Oh my God," he pants. That's all the time he has before his crack is exposed to the air and Luhan is none-too-gently extracting the material out from under his legs. He's as bare as they day he came and Lay is already starting to map the area with his fingers, and then his tongue. He presses light, wet kisses to the firm, rounds of his ass while fingers nudge and massage the backs of his thighs. Luhan whimpers, his moans caught halfway between delight and mortification that the sunlight is witnessing the lewdness of Lay's actions, and of Luhan's reactions.  
  
He almost wants to protest, but then why would he want to stop? His body certainly doesn't want to stop. Lay hasn't even properly touched him yet and he's nearly hard as a rock. His cock angles precariously against the ground, the result of his naturally arching back because his senses just can't handle everything Lay is doing back there.   
  
He drops his head on the side of the tube, mouth open and sideways, eyes closed as he tries not to slobber all over it. He feels Lay pull back, the sounds of shorts being stripped, then feet padding a few steps away and returning with something that opens with a pop.  
  
Luhan wrenches his head up. "... the fuck. You had lube with you this whole time?"  
  
"Nope," Lay laughs gruffly. "Stashed it here before we left earlier."  
  
Luhan doesn't know whether he should be terribly impressed or mortified, again. He wouldn't consider himself so easy that his boyfriend knows already to plan in advance. Then again, this is his  _boyfriend_ he's talking about, and for all their rough start, the two of them have managed to build up a more than healthy sex life. Until Lay decided to take it outside, apparently.  
  
There's no time for complaining though, not when Lay is already sliding one slippery finger inside him, teasing the rim just barely enough for Luhan to squirm, not in discomfort but in impatience. He strokes him open with one hand; the other trails his skin from low back to neck, light touches up and down, sometimes using his nails to leave light, striating marks. The contrast makes Luhan positively weak with desire, even when Lay inserts the second finger and leaves them there to stretch him from the inside out. His fingers explore places they've already discovered, but to Luhan it's always like it was the first time. He gasps loudly when Lay finds that particularly good spot, moans angrily when he retreats, and he doesn't remember to even sigh in relief when Lay thrusts his fingers back into place because the whole process is starting to make him light-headed.   
  
"Alright there, baby?" Lay asks awfully close to his ear. He's breathing into his neck, left arm braced against the side of Luhan's body and his hardness drags heavily along Luhan's lower back and butt cheeks.   
  
"Splendid. Thanks." The way his voice pitches a little higher than normal belies his casual words.   
  
"Just splendid?" Lay teases him in between nibbling at his ear. "And just a regular thanks? That's all I get?"  
  
"All you get... for now," Luhan pants. "I still can't believe you set everything up in advance."   
  
Lay hums. "What can I say. I like to be prepared." He slips in a third finger just barely and by the sound of his gasp, Luhan might think Lay's enjoying this just as much as he is.  
  
"Guess you're lucky then you managed to nab a guy like me... perfect place to just crawl out of the water for a quick fuck."  
  
"Quick?" Lay questions him.  
  
Luhan lets off a low rumble deep in the back of his throat, the deepest he can manage to laugh with. "By the sound of your voice, I'd say quick."  
  
As he expected, Lay jabs his fingers in harshly and rotates his thumb downwards to press faintly on his balls.   
  
"Sounds like someone's getting a little too cocky," he moans.  
  
Luhan's too busy finding his voice to laugh this time. "Grab my dick and you'll find out."  
  
Instead of obliging him, however, Lay teases him with a long-drawn out attack on his prostate which causes Luhan to arch even further into the ground. His knees slide back on the grass until they're nudging the inside of the tube. His feet flail helpless in the air, and it's apparently exactly the position Lay wants him in. The subtle  _fuck_  that escapes his lips proves this much, and Luhan now drools shamelessly against the side of his blue tube. Now he knows why Lay wanted so badly to go tubing, why he purchased this particular tube - no mere rental, but Luhan's for the ages. It's because of this moment, because he wanted Luhan exactly like this.   
  
Lay draws back just long enough to put on the condom he'd evidently stashed alongside the bottle of lube. Then he resituates Luhan's hips precisely where he wants them, spreads his cheeks with his hands and sits there, tip pressing down but not penetrating, waiting. Waiting for Luhan to probably beg or something, although Luhan doesn't want to give him the satisfaction. Not in words at least. He whines and tries to push back, but he has no leverage from where he lays, spread out over the tube with his arms a jumble of spineless nerves. It's not enough to make Lay enter in. It is enough to make him want to weep, just like his untouched cock which ruts against the cool grass each time he tries to move.   
  
Lay inhales deeply and holds his breath, no doubt going crazy at the sight of Luhan trying to get off on mere blades of grass.  
  
"You think that's going to work?" he asks him huskily, yet holding still.   
  
"It's worth figuring out," Luhan replies. "Since you won't help."  
  
The agonizing part of being with Lay, he's finding out, is that his boyfriend isn't easily goaded before his time. It makes moments like this absolutely agonizing because anyone else - any weaker person - would be so turned on or intimidated by Luhan's threats that he'd easily ram into him just like Luhan wants. Lay, however, does not. It's like he  _likes_  watching Luhan do the work, or trying anyways. He likes watching Luhan fall apart, and it's so frustratingly irritating because the louder Luhan moans, the less pleasure he's getting and damnit, Lay knows that grass isn't going to work well enough, and probably just to spite him, Luhan's body won't react the way he wants it to. He  _needs_  Lay, and only him.   
  
All in good time does Lay take action, waiting for when Luhan expects it least. But when he does, he thrusts hard and steady, and evenly, without stop. Luhan pants and arches, gasps and wails and the more he does, the harder Lay thrusts. He's a silent lover, emitting no sounds except for his breathing, strained and clipped, and it leaves all the more room for the sound of his skin slapping against Luhan's thighs which he holds beneath his hands with rigid authority. Over and over again until Luhan is falling apart and he can't even move on his own strength anymore, helpless except for what Lay wants.   
  
It's a relief to be in his mercy. Tears streak down from his eyes and sweat dampens his brow, neck and back. If the underside of his arms were tired earlier from holding onto the tube in the water, they're doubly exhausted now from the rubbery friction of clutching it for dear life, not because he might slip and drown but... because he could almost drown now in these new and exquisite sensations.   
  
Lay is nearing his climax. Luhan can tell by the way his thrusts lose some of their rhythm. He suddenly pulls Luhan further up off the ground, shifting him back onto his knees, as they both crawl forward. Lay gets off his knees himself and rests his shins more on top of the tube. He uses Luhan's body as an anchor to simultaneously hold onto and push into, and the angle is just perfect...  
  
Luhan comes onto the ground within a dozen more thrusts, barely noticing that it took basically nothing more than a light touch of Lay's hand wrapped casually underneath him and on him. He paints the grass and gasps for air. Lay regains a hold on his waist, and he stiffens momentarily to draw out the length of his impending orgasm. His resurgence happens without a single bit of help from Luhan. Lay pounds into a boneless body. Luhan will make it up to him later, but right now he's too exhausted to do anything other than utter strange little noises before Lay collapses on top of him, both of them completely and utterly exhausted.   
  
For a while there Luhan had forgotten they were still outside. It comes back to him rather quickly though. The air hangs around them like a heavy dew, but it's only because of their breaths, sweat, and elevated body temperatures. Luhan hopes to God that nobody rowed by or floated down the river since he last checked, because if it was  _him_ catching a couple like him and Lay he'd probably be traumatized for life, but as it is he doesn't exactly care right now. It's too late anyways to do anything other than squirm and try to regain some semblance of personal space. He heaves upwards and Lay gets the message. With a groan he pulls out and twists until he's sitting sideways in the inner tube and Luhan shifts as well. The tube isn't really big enough for two people to sit side-by-side but they make do for the moment.   
  
Lay's head flops out and back, mouth open, his shins a bright color of pink from rubbing against the completely durable rubber tube. Luhan doesn't even want to examine his own body. He probably looks a mess. He feels a mess. But now that he thinks about it, he doesn't hate this stupid, blue floatie as much as he did a few hours ago.   
  
"I think I got some cum on the tube," Luhan complains after a few minutes. In fact he knows he did, because now he's resting back up on it.   
  
"Go wash it in the river then," Lay comments.  
  
Did Luhan just decide he liked the guy finally? Because now he's having second thoughts. "Absolutely not! That's disgusting!"   
  
Lay only smiles, shirks away from the suggestion with a quick raise of his eyebrows. Luhan scrambles out, fetches his lost clothes and since Lay isn't moving he decides to leave him there in the tube to just hang out.  
  
Unless...  
  
"I'm taking a shower. In my house. Which is right up the hill, by the way. Since, you know, you seem to have forgotten how close we were to a perfectly fine bed."  
  
Lay grins. "Can I join you?"  
  
Luhan strides away, still totally naked. "Only after you rinse my tube. With a hose please, and not in the river."  
  
He hears Lay chuckling, but refuses to turn around and look at him. He knows Lay will be right behind him a heartbeat, and truthfully he doesn't care what Lay does with the inner tube. He can chuck it in the river and let it float away for all Luhan cares.   
  
He does care, however, that he thinks Lay may be a little bit in love with him. And he cares even more that he kind of reciprocates it. Now they just need to figure out a way to say it in words. They were always better in action than in words.   
  
Time enough for that later of course.  
  
"Shower! Come on!" he hollers one last time, and this time Luhan does turn around in time to watch Lay do the fastest exit from an inner tube Luhan's ever seen. Pretty nifty for a guy Luhan spent four years watching float around doing absolutely nothing other than lifting an arm to wave. That stupid, cute little wave that never failed to arouse him.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"I see you're the proud owner of a tube now," Jongin mentions to him several weeks later. "Baby blue, too? Quite a beauty." He goes on to praise it like it was a $1,000 boat, just to get on Luhan's nerves.   
  
It works too, but good thing Luhan's got insurance on that thing.  
  
"I wouldn't touch it though if I were you," he warns Jongin.  
  
"Oh? Why not?"  
  
"Because I'm pretty sure Lay never rinsed it after our last outing."  
  
Jongin frowns, confused. "Why... does that matter? You took it down the river, not the sewer, yeah?"  
  
"Oh we took it down the river alright," Luhan answers him with an innocent smile.   
  
"So..."   
  
"And then we took dragged it up onto the bank."  
  
"And..." Jongin pries, clearly not getting where this is going. That, or he actually wants to know where this is going.  
  
"And then we tested it out for other purposes, durability and stuff."  
  
The little light in Jongin's brain turns on. Luhan can see it blinking. Jongin grins, clasps his hands together, decides he definitely doesn't want to touch it now, and Luhan congratulates himself for winning this one over.  
  
"So... did you ride him while sitting on it? Because you know, that's a pretty comfty way to have a sex. Last time I was out with Jongdae actually, we-"  
  
"WHAT!? Okay, nevermind. Get out of my house. I never want to see the pair of you again!"  
  
  
  
  
  
One day Luhan will learn his lesson, but sadly it'll probably never be against Jongin. He shoves his friend out of his house and dives for his phone to berate his boyfriend about why he hasn't heard about  _his_ roommate and Luhan's best friend. Tubers, really, are the bane of his existence. 


End file.
